The National Association of Probation Officers said the increase illustrated the pressures the sector was under.
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

The number of offenders charged with serious crimes including murder, manslaughter and rape while they were being monitored in the community has jumped by more than a fifth in a year in England and Wales, the Guardian can reveal.

There were 627 serious further offence (SFO) reviews conducted in 2017-18, a freedom of information request response disclosed, a 21% rise on the 517 in the previous 12-month period.

SFO reviews are triggered when an offender under statutory probation supervision is charged with murder, manslaughter, rape or other serious violent or sexual offences.

Among high-profile SFO reviews conducted in the 2017-18 period was the case of Simon Mellors, from Nottingham, who killed his ex-girlfriend, Janet Scott, in January after being released on licence from prison, where he had been serving time for murder.

Inspectors and parliamentarians have highlighted the crisis faced by the probation sector in a succession of damning reports. They flagged disappointing reductions in reoffending, low morale among staff and remote contact between workers and offenders. It was found tens of thousands of offenders – up to 40% of the total – were being supervised by telephone calls every six weeks instead of face-to-face meetings.

Many of the difficulties faced by the sector have been put down to the disastrous changes introduced in 2014 by Chris Grayling during his tenure as justice secretary. He ignored significant warnings from within the Ministry of Justice and broke up existing probation trusts. They were replaced with a public sector National Probation Service (NPS) dealing with high-risk offenders and privately run community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) that manage low- and medium-risk offenders.

The shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, said: “All too often probation appears stretched to breaking point and struggling to fulfil its fundamental role of keeping the public safe. The Conservatives’ irresponsible decision to break up and privatise much of probation has put huge pressures on the system. The government urgently needs to explain how it plans to tackle this extremely worrying rise in serious offences committed by offenders.”

There were 270 SFO reviews conducted by CRCs in 2017-18, 15% higher than the previous year, while there were 357 SFO reviews conducted by the National Probation Service (NPS), a 26% rise.

In 2013-2014, the year prior to the changes introduced by Grayling, there were 429 SFO reviews completed by the probation trusts. However, the MoJ said the changes expanded the number of offenders eligible for SFO reviews and therefore it was not possible to make like-for-like comparisons.

But Ian Lawrence, the general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) union, said the significant increase between 2016-17 and 2017-18 illustrated the pressures the sector was under.

“The increase in SFO’s is a major public health and public safety issue that the MoJ needs to start taking seriously,” he said. “Our members are overworked, under-resourced and many, especially in the NPS are facing burnout. There is currently a consultation on the future of probation and the minister now needs to start listening to the experts instead of the privateers and stop being wedded to the marketisation of probation.

“We urgently need a publicly owned reunified service to effectively protect the public and have local and public accountability. People are literally dying as a result of this failed social experiment. Napo will continue to campaign until we achieve this.”

Other high-profile cases subject to SFO reviews include the rape and murder of Lisa Skidmore by Leroy Campbell in November 2016. He had been released from prison three months earlier after serving 17 years for an attack on another woman.

In 2015 Conner Marshall, 18, was battered to death in Porthcawl, south Wales, by David Braddon, who was being monitored by probation workers after being convicted for drugs offences and assaulting a police officer. He is serving a life term for Marshall’s murder.

There were 507 SFO reviews in 2015-16, before the spike from 517 to 627 between 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Among the CRCs, London and Cheshire and Greater Manchester had the equal highest number of SFO reviews in 2017-18 with 30, while Staffordshire and West Midlands, which includes Birmingham, had 27. Kent, Surrey and Sussex was third with 18 SFO reviews.

A Prisons and Probation spokesperson said: “Serious further offences remain extremely rare at less than 1%. Nonetheless, every single one is taken seriously and a rigorous review carried out in all cases.

“Our reforms extended probation supervision and support to approximately 40,000 extra offenders each year who would not previously have been monitored, inevitably increasing the number of SFO reviews carried out. It is therefore not possible to make a like-for-like comparison between the numbers of serious further offences committed before and after the reforms.”

There were 192 SFO reviews conducted in the first five months of the year 2018-19, the figures disclosed, which suggests the increase may have plateaued.

David Gauke, the justice secretary, previously announced that eight private companies running 21 “community rehabilitation companies” (CRCs) in England and Wales were to have their contracts terminated in 2020, two years earlier than agreed.

Under new proposals, the number of CRCs operating in England and Wales is to be reduced to 11, with 10 new probation regions to be formed in England plus one additional region in Wales.

Despite significant problems identified with the provision of services by the private companies, the government insists the sector has a role to play and says it will be putting contracts out to tender for the overhauled framework proposed for 2020 onwards.